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batman cupcakes, birthday cakes, butterfly cake, dog house cake, fourth of july cake, tea rose cake, train cake
Some days are like that: you just need cake. You need batter to lick off a spoon and the mixer whipping up frosting. Truth be told, I’m more of a pie girl when it comes to actually eating dessert, but cakes are more rewarding to make and so darn pretty.
I made a one-bowl chocolate cake recently because we all needed a chocolate fix. I frosted it and then The Boy decided that it wasn’t actually done unless we drew things on it with icing. Now, I usually think cake decorations are for birthday celebrations, but I had some white icing hanging around and we were snowbound, so I agreed. Snow days can be worth celebrating, too.
“What should we draw on it?”
“Us.”
When I stopped laughing, he earnestly told me that it wasn’t hard, that I just needed “a circle, and then a line down, and a leg this way, and a leg that way, and arms. And eyes.” Then he walked around the kitchen like a stick figure, arms and legs straight out, in case I didn’t understand.
We added a sun, because it was snowing (why? – don’t ask), and a bird. And then we ate it.
All of this decorating made me think of birthdays and that I’d better figure out a Transformer cake and a kitty cake pretty soon. I pulled out a few pictures of cakes of birthdays past for motivation. I can do this! Yes.
The train cake. This was completely adorable. We had a little candy store down the street that sold penny candy, odd things like candy rocks, licorice by the yard….I had so much fun making this cake! My first baby’s first birthday cake – is there a better one?
The tea rose cake. Pink and frilly and totally indulgent for a my sweet girl’s first birthday. She ate her little piece like it was a marvelous mystery.
The emergency jelly bean cake! When all else fails, frost a layer cake and grab a bag of jelly beans. The cake I’d planned on fell apart so I made a basic chocolate one, spelled his name in jelly beans, and added a border. It was a hit. He was so excited to see the jelly beans that he forgot about the cake we’d planned on.
The butterfly cake. This was chocolate with simple white frosting. I cut out pretty little butterflies from yellow and white wrapping paper, folded them so their wings stood up, and stuck them on the cake while the frosting was still soft. Definitely one of my prettiest cakes!
The Fourth of July cake, ’cause our country has a birthday, too.
The doghouse cake. For a doggie-themed party, I used a cottage-shaped standing cake pan, decorated it with purple and white frosting (purple being the color of choice, of course), and added a toy dog. Woof!
Batman cupcakes. Yellow-frosted cupcakes with 24 hand-cut edible sugar paper Batman logos. Awesome looking. Never again.
So now I need to come up with an Optimus Prime cake without having to learn to roll fondant. This could be a challenge. But the kitty cake, that I can handle. Shredded coconut makes great “fur.”
Am I officially a cake dork yet?